Method of making a cage for a tapered roller bearing



p 1970 H. T. WARCHOL 3,526,026

I METHOD OF MAKING A CAGE FOR A TAPERED ROLLER BEARING Filed Oct. 30,1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l ALDEN fig fi ht FIG; I.

IO g INVENTOR. H8. H8 HENRY T. WARCHQL BY F|G.6. g E I ATTORNEYS.

Sept. 1, 1970 H. T. WARCHOL 3,526,026

METHOD OF MAKING A CAGE FOR A TAPERED ROLLER BEARING Filed Oct. 30, 19s?I 2 Sheets-Sheet FEEDING AN ELONGATED FLAT STRIP TO A PUNCHING STATIONAND PROGRESSIVELY BLANKING THE STRIP TO PROVIDE A SERIES OF ROLLERBEARING RECEIVING CAGE SLOTS OPTIONAL comma THE CAGE SLOTS DEFORMING ONERIM OF THE STRIP TO SINUSOIDAL FORM CUTTING THE STRIP TO A BLANK 0FDESIRED LENGTH FORMING THE BLANK AROUND A FORMING ARBOR OFFRUSTO-CONICAL SHAPE WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY FLATTENING THE UN- DULATIONSWITH A FORMING TOOL JOINING TOGETHER CONTIGUOUS ENDS OF THE RIM PORTIONSOF THE FORMED FRUSTO- CONICAL BLANK FIG.7.

INVENTOR. HENRY T. WARCHOL ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,526,026 METHOD OF MAKING A CAGE FOR A TAPEREDROLLER BEARING Henry T. Warchol, 2 Sackville Ave., Westfield, Mass.01085 Filed Oct. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 678,928 Int. Cl. B21d 51/10; B31b49/00; B31c 11/02 US. Cl. 29-148.4 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThe method of manufacturing a cage for a tapered roller bearing whichincludes the steps of punching spaced holes in a strip of sheet metal toform a blank having rim portions connected by spaced bars definingroller pockets therebetween for the reception of rollers, deforming oneof said rim portions to elongate its length, forming said blank intofrusto-conical shape, and welding together the abutting ends of said rimportions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Cages or separatorsor retainers for roller bearings of the tapered roller or race type.

Description of the prior art Tapered cages have been made by machiningcastings or forgings; or by cupping a sheet of metal, stamping out thecup bottom and cutting out the roller openings; or they have been formedfrom cylindrical stock in manner as set forth in expired US. Pat. No.1,444,326.

Each of these methods has been deficient in that a high percentage ofscrap is produced and each requires complicated and expensive dies andother machinery for secondary operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A primary object of the invention is to providea simple, time-saving and economical method of producing a taperedroller bearing cage from flat strip stock, the bearing openings orpockets or windows being punched therein before forming, therebyeliminating the need for expensive dies or other secondary machinerywhich are required to punch such openings at an angle.

Another object is the provision of a method for producing tapered rollerbearing cages, separators and retainers from flat metal blanks, one rimof the blank being elongated by mechanical means so that the finishedcage will assume a frusto-conical shape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a flatsheet metal strip having roller slots punched therein;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the metal strip of FIG. 1 followingstretching or deforming;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, side elevational view of the formedstrip of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are elevational and prospective views respectively oftapered bearing cages formed by the method of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, transverse, cross-sectional view taken through amodified form of bearing cage formed by the method of the invention; and

3,526,026 Patented Sept. 1, 1970 FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing thesequence of the various steps of the method of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As a preferred method ofcarrying out the invention, a flat metal strip of indeterminate lengthis fed to a punching station where cage slots are punched therein andoptionally coined; therefollowing, the so punched strip is fed to astretching station Where one rim is deformed or stretched to sinusoidalform; the so-punched and deformed strip is then cut to desired length ata cutting station, formed to desired frusto-conical shape at a formingstation and the free ends joined together by welding or other means at afinishing station.

Of course, it will be understood that certain of the steps outlinedabove could be combined or their order changed. For instance, thepunching and stretching operations could be performed simultaneously orcoining could be performed during or after stretching or during cutting.Thus, I do not desired to be limited to the particular method stepsdescribed as they may be varied to meet particular operatingrequirements.

With reference now to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a flat, sheet metalstrip 10 of predetermined length and uniform thickness, the strip havingbeen prepunched to provide a plurality of identical cage slots 12therein, said cage slots providing upper and lowerlongitudinally-extending rims 14 and 16 respectively interconnected bytransversely-extending bars 18 which bound the slots.

Upper rim 14 is deformed or stretched to the sinusoidal form illustratedin FIGS. 2 and 3 by applying forming punches, not shown, to one planarface thereof to provide a series of equi-spaced undulations 20 in theupper rim, each such undulation being positioned centrally between apair of bars 18 so as to overlie a slot 12.

The so-deformed strip is now moved to a forming station, not shown,comprising a forming arbor of the desired frusto-conical shape and twoor more forming tools which form the strip around the arbor whilesimultaneously flattening the undulations 20.

The upper rim 14, having been stretched by the undulations, is ablesubstantially to assume the larger diameter called for by the taper ofthe arbor.

The now-formed frnsto-conical cage 22, illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, isremoved from the arbor and the abutting ends of the rims 14 and 16 arejoined together as at 24 by welding or any other suitable means.

In the modified tapered cage 122 of FIG. 6, roller bearings 111 aredisposed in ca-ge slots separated by equispaced bars 118.

The inside vertical edges of each bar have been bevelled or coined as at119 to retain the bearings at the proper pitch diameter and to provide awide surface on which the bearings can ride.

The bevelling or coining operation may be performed after punching,before or after or during stretching or during cutting.

I claim:

1. A method of making a tapered roller bearing cage comprising the stepsof:

(a) feeding an elongated strip of thin flat metal to a punching stationand progressively blanking the strip to provide alongitudinally-extending series of later- 3 4 ally-elongated rollerbearing receiving cage slots be- References Cited tween opposite rimportions; ST P (b) therefollowing deforming one of the rim portions ofthe strips into sinusoidal undulations; 1 3 7/1908 Worchester 29 1484(c) progressively severing selected portions of the strip 1 6/1915Vfanderbeek 5 1 446 487 2/ 1923 Timken 29-148 4 to provide blanks fromthe mam strip, 1928823 10/1 33 (d) forming each blank around a formingarbor 0f 3313582 M1367 Eg'gg frusto-comcal configuration whilesimultaneously 1/1968 g 29 148 4 flattening the undulations with aforming tool; and (e) joining together the contiguous ends of the rim 1oportions of each formed frusto-conical blank. WAYNE MORSE Pnmary Exammer2. The method according to claim 1, including the step 1 of coveringcertain of the edges of the cage slots. 93 94 Dated s t h Q ZQ PatentNo.

Inventor(s) nry T Warchol It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Column 3 line 13, Claim 2 change "covering" to coining Signed and sealedthis 28th day of September 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

ROBERT GOTTSCHALK EDWARD M. FLETCHER,JR.

Acting Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer

